Enrica Medugno
Senior Sale Coordinator
Property from the Mohammed Khalil Collection
Lot 102*
A rare votive 'sword' Tunisia, dated AH 1099/ AD 1688
22 May 2025, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£20,000 - £25,000
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Oliver White
Head of Department
A rare votive 'sword'
Tunisia, dated AH 1099/ AD 1688
Tunisia, dated AH 1099/ AD 1688
the thick steel blade with wider section towards end, with blunt edges, engraved throughout with inscriptions in kufic, the hilt and scabbard of green stained wood, two large iron suspension mounts to scabbard
111 cm. long
111 cm. long
Footnotes
Provenance
Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World Including Fine Carpets and Textiles, 6 October 2010, lot 308.
The Mohammed Khalil Collection.
Published
M. K. Ibrahim, Islamic Arms and Armour, Vol. II, United Arab Emirates, 2022, pp. 978-9, Cat. No. 878.
Inscriptions:
To one side in positive, referring to an inscribed sword [which came] on earth from the Seven Skies, and mentioning the Jami Mosque in Qairawan and the archangels Gabriel, Michael, Israfil and Izrail. Carved by Ibrahim al-Shami (?), dated AH 1099 (AD 1688).
To the other side, in negative, referring to the children of Arabs of Mecca and Yemen in the land of Africa, [saw] a sword in the treasury. 'Umar in Salim al-'Ayyar ibn 'Umar ibn Sa'd saw an uninscribed sword with a secret in it. Also bearing the name Hasan in 'Ali ibn Salim al-'Ayyar, father of the victorious one.
The inscriptions on our sword appear to reference a legend of a magical sword, which may refer to the present lot itself. A comparable sword with scabbard is in the Collection H. Moser-Charlottenfels (see K. W. Hiersemann, Collections of Henri Moser-Charlottenfels- Otiental Arms and Armour, Leipzig, 1912, pl.XXXVII, no. 1130). For a ceremonial sword sold at Christie's, see Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs and Carpets, 1 April 2021, lot 6. The Christie's example references the master blacksmith and philosopher Sidi Amor (d. 1855/6), in whose mausoleum (zawiya) in Kairouan further examples of these swords are preserved, the mausoleum having been turned into a museum.